


Little Bit of Red

by stranger12



Series: Songs on Mute [1]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Romance, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-13 21:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16479896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stranger12/pseuds/stranger12
Summary: In a world where there is no plane crash, Owen finds a happy ending in the least expected manner





	Little Bit of Red

Owen took a deep breath as he sat in his bed.

Another day, another trauma, another-

Cristina had been gone for months, and still he felt like she was just at Meredith’s, the Twisted Sisters, and they were gossiping and talking surgery and Derek and him and-

Except he was in Meredith’s house, in Meredith’s half redone house, that he had bought after she moved to Boston with Derek and the kids. He had thought it would be great, he would work on it when he wasn’t in the hospital, and then one day he would have people to fill it up, and maybe it wouldn’t feel so cavernous.

Maybe mercifully, or pitifully, his friends and colleagues often visited him. Mark and Lexie, in particular, were very supportive of him, even after they got back together and started living in Meredith and Derek’s other house (which, Mark joked as Lexie rolled her eyes heavenly, was great because there were no neighbors to complain about the noise, wink, wink). Richard was also a constant, though he wistfully looked around, as if seeing ghosts in every corner. Owen sometimes wondered about that, if in a few decades, he would be mourning the loss of Cristina, thinking about the life they could have led, if only- Well.

April, once he went to get her back when he realized it had not been the best decision to get rid of his right hand, was around a lot too, since most of her peers had left town, and her best friend, Jackson, was being weird with her (she confessed to a rather surprised Owen that she had been a virgin until the Boards, and then she slept with Jackson, and she was so messed up from it all that she failed them, and now Jackson was gone and not dealing well with their tryst). Owen felt bad for her, because if HE was the best that she had where friends were concerned, then things were not well for her.

It had been months since Cristina left to be even brighter and more accomplished than she already was, because that was who she was, and that was one of the reasons Owen fell in love with her so fast and so intensely, and it was still difficult to go on without her.

Then he saw April in the ER chatting with an EMT. A sweet-looking, smiling EMT that Owen felt an instantaneous amount of dislike for, so much so that he marched over to them before he had thought about what to say, and interrupted them, all too happy when two traumas came in just as he was about to open his mouth to say something really dumb, and April was off, absently waving the EMT goodbye as Owen stood there for a moment too long before his legs dragged him to his new patient.

Afterwards, when one of their traumas was resting after a long surgery, and the other was being mourned by his family, April smiled tiredly at Owen and asked if he wanted to take a little break and get some coffee, because she didn’t know about him, but she certainly needed the caffeine boost.

Owen thought little of that day, of that moment, or at least he tried, until he was sitting across from April, having lunch, and she was shoving carrot pieces into his plate while she complained that he should really eat more veggies, he was a doctor, he should know better. Arizona and Callie were walking on air, in love as usual, as they approached, but they stopped in their tracks when Owen clumsily asked if April wanted to have dinner sometime. The Robbins-Torres couple looked at one another and promptly disappeared into thin air while April blinked and slowly nodded, looking as confused as Owen felt silly.

A man his age, with several years worth of trauma surgery experience, with several years worth of being the freaking Chief of Surgery at a major metropolitan area hospital, was mortified that he had had the gall to ask his protege, his sweet, kindhearted and incredible protege out to dinner – though, after she frowned a little and smiled, he had to wonder if she thought he meant it as a date, which he didn’t really know if he meant-

Perhaps all the years around the Twisted Sisters had done a number of his head.

It took a couple of days until they could wrangle it, but they finally managed to get a night out, together. April had her hair up, no makeup, jeans and sneakers, and Owen thought she looked beautiful. It was the first time such a thought entered his mind, and while it was startling, it also brought a boyish, shy smile to his lips as he scratched his neck and asked whether April minded if they just went to a diner. She grinned, openly and happily, and said she’d love that.

By the end of the night, Owen had learned more about April than he thought he had ever known about Cristina, and he had told her so much about his life, about his family, his time in the army, and it felt freeing. April was gentle, but she wasn’t like Beth, and she was funny and playful and tough and it was so much, and not enough, that Owen- Owen didn’t know what to do with himself., except to insist on paying for dinner, even as something like shock dawned on April’s face when he leaped to pay up.

Later, as they stood by her car, he hesitantly put a hand out, and, just as hesitantly, April put hers in his. She took a step closer to him and, as she blushed cutely, asked whether that had been their first date. When he confirmed he hoped she agreed it was, she giggled nervously and squeezed his hand.

Things were just as easy as that afterwards. April was just as dedicated and fierce a surgeon as she had been before, and Owen was just as hardworking and serious a Chief, but in the quiet moments they stole, they could be just them, not Dr. Kepner and Chief Hunt. The intensity he had always felt around Cristina wasn’t there, no, instead there was a constant hum of… Happiness, he dared consider it. April was easy to fall for, she was easy to care for, and it was easy to want her.

Her announcement one day when they were making out in an on-call room that while she had had sex with Jackson, she wished to only have sex again when she got married, was somewhat surprising, but there was not a bad thought in his head when he kissed her and assured her he would never, ever force her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. The smile she gave him brightened up the entire room, and just like that, Owen silently decided he was going to marry her.

Their colleagues and friends reacted in a variety of ways to them dating. Robbins and Torres cooed over them, teasing them constantly when the red heads couldn’t help but lock hands whenever possible. Mark was a dick about it, as per usual, poking fun at Owen when he told him about April and him not having sex, and Lexie shyly commented she thought they made a good couple. Richard narrowed his eyes at Owen when they were alone and grumbled about how inappropriate it was (naturally, Owen quickly asked about Meredith and Derek, and the older man had to concede that it wasn’t THAT bad after all). Bailey just shook her head and told them not to make a scene in the hospital, now that the ‘McDreamys’ were across the country.

Owen told Cristina, and the woman snorted and laughed in his ear for several minutes before she realized he was being serious, then she sobered up and gently, for her, said that she was happy he was happy, and he believed her wholeheartedly. Jackson, April informed him with a slightly sad demeanor, had been a little cold with her when she called to tell him. Owen wanted to throttle the younger man, and April knew him well enough to see it in his eyes that she put a hand on his arm and softly told him it was okay, Jackson would come around, he would be her best friend again.

With a cheekiness he usually reserved for his closest friends, he blinked innocently and asked if HE wasn’t her best friend anymore. She appeared panicked for a split second before she huffed as he burst out laughing, and when he pulled her into a kiss, he couldn’t quite stop from smiling.

Cristina had taught him many lessons, but the most important one when it came to his relationship with April was he didn’t need to rush love, it was alright to take a breather and simply enjoy what life with her had to offer.

He would wait until April was well and ready before he asked her to marry him, because Cristina had also taught him that love could be all consuming, however April was teaching him daily that it could also be brilliant, and gentle, and could provide him with everything he ever dreamed he would ever want for his future.


End file.
